


Like Pirates and The Matrix

by DoctorV



Series: Archive: Doc's Old-Ass Comics Fic (DC, JLU, etc.) [11]
Category: Booster Gold (Comics), DC Elseworlds, DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Justice League, Justice League International (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-18
Updated: 2005-10-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 20:30:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14004147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorV/pseuds/DoctorV
Summary: His first time traveling back from his home time, Booster ends up in the wrong era and enlists the help of a local.





	Like Pirates and The Matrix

**Author's Note:**

> Archiving some old old OLD fanfic of mine. This was originally posted to LiveJournal 10/18/2005, with the author's note:  
> "An AU partly based, but not much, on the Justice Riders Elseworld posted to scans_daily some time ago. I make this distinction because I wrote this thing the night before the whole dang thing was posted. (You cannot imagine the laughter that ensued when I woke up this morning to see that post. It was like forgetting your own birthday and waking up to a pile of shiny presents.)  
> Anyway, the some time ago post had left me with the impression that Booster and Beetle were there in a sort of "DC does Where's Waldo" background character capacity. That they were actually main characters (sort of) fills me with heaps of glee. That and Beetle's goggles/antenna set-up. It is a thing of beauty."
> 
> Added to Ao3 (but backdated): 03/27/2018

Booster really hadn't meant to end up in the wild west. He hadn't even known it was real. He thought it was a myth. Like pirates, and The Matrix.

 

He certainly hadn't expected to be shot at when he claimed to be from the future.

 

Luckily the man was a terrible shot. And probably drunk. Booster hadn't stuck around to find out.

 

After that unfortunate incident, he was a bit more cautious.

 

Some surreptitious observation of the people native to the time and a sneak attack on an untended clothesline were all it took for Booster to blend in, provided he didn't talk to anyone.

 

A little more observation at closer range gave him a better idea of what kind of time he was dealing with. It also allowed him to casually ask whether there was anyone in town with any mechanical expertise without sounding like a lunatic.

 

Apparently he needn't have worried about sounding like a lunatic, because the only "mechanical expert" in town was a crackpot inventor. He was directed, amidst snickers and outright guffaws, to follow the explosions. At first he had been annoyed, thinking they were making fun of him, but as a muffled "boom" echoed through the town Booster realized _he_ hadn't been the butt of the joke.

 

Though there were no further explosions, a billow of smoke soon rose in the otherwise clear sky and Booster easily tracked it to a building on the edge of town.

 

Finding the inventor was easy as well. He was the man covered in soot and grease. As Booster got closer, he saw what looked like a tiny fire on the man's hair. The man didn't appear to have noticed it yet.

 

Booster cleared his throat to get the man's attention. When he turned around, he raised his eyebrows over darkened goggles and asked loudly, "Yes?"

 

"Uh...your...." Booster gestured vaguely at the man's head. "Your hair's on fire."

 

One eyebrow lowered and the man instinctively looked up, then huffed in irritation at the move and walked over to a nearby barrel of water. In a move performed so calmly and easily that Booster suspected it had been done many times before, the man dunked his head in the barrel.

 

When the man came back up for air, he shook off the excess water, shoved his goggles up on his forehead, and turned to face Booster again. "Thanks," he said, voice still louder than necessary.

 

"No problem," Booster replied smoothly, flashing a smile and hoping the man wasn't as crazy as the townsfolk seemed to think. "You the inventor I was told about?"

 

"The explosion give me away?" the man asked, walking toward the entrance of the building now that the smoke was clearing.

 

"Ah, something like that," Booster muttered, following.

 

"Speak up, my ears are still ringing."

 

"Nevermind," Booster spoke up, waving a hand.

 

"So why were you looking for me?" the man asked, picking up a piece of twisted and blackened metal and examining it critically.

 

Booster took a deep breath, then said in his levelest, sanest, most trustworthy voice, "My name is Michael Carter, I'm from the future, and I need help fixing my time machine."

 

The man snorted and tossed the scrap into a pile of similarly abused metal in the corner. He glanced over his shoulder and frowned at Booster. "Don't waste my time, Mr. Carter. I know my reputation, but I...I...uh...what?" He trailed off, turning to stare fully at Booster as he floated about a foot above the ground.

 

Booster's feet returned to the ground and he said sincerely, "I need help, Mister...."

 

The man stared at him for a moment longer before his hand shot out in offering to shake. "Kord," he said, looking like he expected Booster to suddenly disappear in a puff of pink butterflies as he shook his hand. "Ted Kord. Nice to meet you." He blinked. "Time machine, you say?"

 

Booster grinned and jerked a thumb toward the door. "I'll show you. Come on."

 

When they got to the time machine and Booster disengaged the cloaking device and Ted got his first good look at the inner workings of the machine, the expression on the man's face was something Booster wanted to call "orgasmic." He also wanted to be the direct, rather than indirect, cause of that expression some time.

 

"This...could take a while," Ted finally pronounced, looking both happy and slightly disappointed.

 

Throwing an arm around the man's shoulders, Booster grinned, deciding he liked having Ted close. "Don't worry, buddy," he said, deciding he kind of liked Ted's just-exploded smell too. "We've got all the time in the world."

 

Ted grinned back, and Booster thought he saw something just a little extra in it, something that transcended language barriers and hadn't changed in hundreds of years. Something that promised that, even though he hadn't meant to come to this time, he was going to enjoy his stay.


End file.
